While cruising Youtube I came across a clip of Czeck Nymphing on the Truckee river. I watched because I spent alot of time on that river and was greatly disapointed in it. Any how from what I gathered from the clip you are just high sticking with three nymphs.Whats the big deal to that? I have done that often enough and never knew there was a fancy name for it. Is there more to it?

ryanh - There are definately differences. Keep in mind that in competition, FIPS Mouche rules prohibit the addition of split shot to the leader, and it makes even more sense. In a nutshell, the flies are heavily weighted and slim in profile, and are not fished with a dead drift. The flies are in direct contact at all times during the drift, and are sometimes dragged faster than the current moves them (Polish style). The anglers prefer rods of 9 - 10 feet in length to cover more water without moving. The water typically fished with this method is often fairly shallow, and is fast moving - fishermen often overlook this type of water because they think it is too fast to hold fish. While there are some similarities between this type of fishing and what we call high stick nymphing, the differences are important. Maybe this article will make things clearer than I have:

Attached is a site dedicated Czech nymphing tactics and tying flies. I learned a lot for reading each article, and incorporate some of it in my fishing at times. Czech nymphing is just another method of fishing to add to your arsenal of tactics.

Almost all fishing is simple in theory, but the devil is in the details.

Czech nymphing generally is more tightly controlled than high sticking with some hyper guys pointing the rod right where they are fishing. Even the whole Czech nymph stuff has plenty of room for variants. The difference isn't all the great, but getting a fly/nymph to go exactly where you want it is always a challenge even if the theory is straightforward.

I have been looking into this all winter. Here is some info I copied from another site.

This system of nymphing was first introduced at the World Championships of Fly Fishing by a Polish fisher, Wladyslaw Trzebunia ("Vladi") in the mid 1990's. I think it was in '94 or possibly '95 when he won the World Championships by the largest margin in history. The Czechs and later the Spanish copied his method and the methods became better known as Czech Nymphing and a modified version for deeper waters called Spanish Nymphing.

It is not high sticking which originated from the earlier Brooks method of nymphing. High sticking was a well know method of nymphing at the time Vladi introduced Polish Nymphing. Do a Google Search on Polish, Czech or Spanish nymphing and you will find the appropriate history and articles.

The difference between high sticking and Polish nymphing is that the rod is kept low and is not raised as the nymph comes toward you as the "high" in high sticking does. There is no mending in Polish nymphing. Instead, the nymphs are led and, if necessary, gently pulled downstream. This maintains a tight line to the nymphs and the rod leads the flies. In high sticking you try to keep a drag free drift, mending as needed and the rod does not lead the flies, but is kept directly above the flies. The rod is gradually elevated well above your head (hence the name - high sticking) to keep the line off the water as the flies drift toward you. The high rod position is then lowered as the nymphs pass you and go downstream from the angler's position. In Polish nymphing the nymphs do not pass the anglers position but rather the rod is picked up with a wrist twist at that point and another cast is made. The drifts are very short, 5 ft. long at the most, whereas the high sticking attemps to prolong the drag free drift as long as possible by casting well above the angler's positon and extending the drift well below the angler.

The Polish method was developed for the restrictions of the World Championships which allow no strike indicators and no added weight to the leader such as split shot. And for more difficult fishing conditions where the fishing pressure is much greater than in the USA and the fish are more difficult to find and catch. As a result, it is the most effective form of nymphing yet developed. It is not uncommon for the top competitors to C&R 50 or more fish in the 3 hours of competitive fishing. That includes hooking, fighting, and landing, the fish in difficult fishing conditions. If you subtract the time it takes to do this, the best fishers are hooking a fish for every few minutes of actual fishing time.

If you look at the pictures of the URL below, you will notice that in none of the photos is the rod angled "high" above the anglers head. It is kept parallel to the water and notice also that the rod is leading the flies (photos 3 and 5).

You will also notice that in every picture the water is knee high or lower and that the water is riffle water. Obviously picture 2 is not a Polish nympher.

Since the Polish method is limited to relatively shallow riffle water, you know why the Spanish developed a technique for deeper water. They use 13 to 14 ft rods and 25 to 30 ft leaders with a section of coiled optic yellow 14 lb. test Stren as a visual indicator. To make the coiled mono, wrap the Stren around a pencil and use a cigarette lighter to heat it and "set" the coil. The coil then acts as the "indicator". Here's the article on the Spanish technique:

Podcast episode 15 of Fly Fish Radio Radio interviewed Jack Dennis on the US team and on the Polish Nymphing Method. He mentioned that a regionial trial for the US national team were held in California on a very difficult river(?Kings River?). One resident fly fisher, who fished it regularly, had never caught more than 6 fish in an entire day of fishing on that river. The top finisher in that regional competition caught almost 30 fish in under 3 hours using the Polish Method.

For those that are interested, there is a recent podcast interview with Doug Palmer at Ask About Fly Fishing internet Radio dated 6/4/06 at the National fly fishing Championship in Colorado. Doug is on the Steering Committee for the Championship and was a beat monitor. He describes his experience viewing the effectiveness of Czech nymphing during the competition and gives short explanation of what he saw.

Josh Stevens, who just made the US National team is a professional guide. He won one of the regional competitions on the Fly Fishing Master's competition which I think was on the OLN network.

He calls Polish nymphing much more effective than other forms of nymphing. This is from a guide that won a regional Master's competition using strike indicators. He no longer fishes with strike indicators during his personal fishing both because Polish nymphing is more effective and his need to practice what he has learned.

It is important to realize that this is a form of nymphing that is different from any previous style of nymphing practiced in the US. It is NOT steelheading or high sticking or any other non-indicator nymphing. If you believe it is, then you will never open your mind to the differences and learn this new technique. I'm certainly not an expert in this technique. However, from what I've tried and read it is a very specific form of nymphing that requires:

(1) A specific leader design and way of attaching flies.

(2) Specific flies designed for this form of nymphing - slim heavy flies that will sink quickly.

3) A unique cast, downstream sweep, and wrist flip that keeps the fly "in the zone", induces strikes, and covers virtually every inch of the river - hence the term "vacuum cleaner" to describe how this system catches just about every fish in its path.

Did anyone read the part about creating the strike indicator out of backing?i know someone who uses florescent leader material, but the backing rigging sounds plausable.My only question is how to hook one up -- the directions are unclear to me. To me it would me simpler to say --- ad in a 12 piece of florescent backing 4 feet up the leader.What are your guys' thoughts?

I use chartreuse backing as a strike indicator for Czech nymphing. I use 3-5’ feet of backing as an indicator (length depending on the depth of the water). I attach it to the fly line with a perfection loop on each end, and attach my tippet and flies on from there. I used a black permanent marker and mark it every four or five inches alternating between chartreuse and black for contrast. I experimented with it last year quite a bit. It works best in fairly shallow fast water where you can wade in close to the fish. I often feel the fish before seeing the strike with the technique. Under the right conditions it really is effective. Read the article “When the tapping stops” in the link I posted. I goes into more detail about the rig. Good luck.

A strike indicator for Czech nymphing is a way to color the line so that you can see it easily so slight sideways movements can be detected and can also be used as a depth indicator to judge how deep you are fishing. It is not a float or piece of yarn or anything we generally call indicators. Some people tie in alternating bits of blue and yellow fluorescent mono. I tie a 1" or 2" piece of fluor. orange backing tied parallel to the leader. I use modified figure of 8 knots and I can slip the indicator up and down to adjust it's position. Magic Markers and nail polish are to other ways to mark the leader (but can't adjust).

Czech nymphing has a few basic concepts like leading a heavy streamlined fly and not fishing below, but it generally is new enough to not be bogged down with too much tradition and has lots of room for innovation.

They use 13 to 14 ft rods and 25 to 30 ft leaders with a section of coiled optic yellow 14 lb. test Stren as a visual indicator.

Ok, I got about a billion very, very useful pieces of information out of this post, so I thank you. That being said, if they are using a 30 foot leader, why not just use spinning gear? This seems ridiculous to me. How would you cast with a 30 foot leader? I willl, however be using the stren-slinky indicator thing. That's priceless. Sometimes when I'm nymphing really deep water I'll watch a section of leader that's still coiled from the package (I'll get myself a real leader straightener one of these days). Very informative post in general. Thanks all.